LifeNtheFstLne

You don't want to fly for Vulcan. My old man works there (not a pilot) and when he's riding on the 757 for biz he chats up the pilots (since it's what I fly). They are paid handsomely but are definitely wearing the 'golden handcuffs' that come with the higher paying 91 corporate aviation jobs. Translation: treated like crap but paid well. Then again, it could be 121 like me where I am treated well but paid crap. It's a tightly knit group of pilots, all with lots of gray hair. I would agree with the earlier postings, corp. aviation is not flourishing in the SEA area like it is in other metros. Unfortunately, you may have to head south. The best advice is start knocking on office doors at the airport. I know of several people that found their needle in a haystack that way. Good luck.

LineTroll

Yeah.. .

globemaster3

what does "treated like crap but paid well" really mean??
i mean, is it hard to be treated like crap if you're being paid well?
i didn't hear anyone mention that vulcan has high turnover rate for pilots, so i guess they're not treated so bad that they can't stand it??

LineTroll

Woah. I think he is just saying in non politically correct terms that you have to be a certain type of person to work there.

LifeNtheFstLne

Exactly. Sorry for the confusion, I thought being blunt was the best approach. I'll try again, since he didn't seem to get it and must not have flown corporate before. I'm sure most guys know EXACTLY what I mean by my golden handcuffs reference. It's always easier to swallow a job where the owner treats you like garbage when there's a fat paycheck rolling in each month. The referenced company (Vulcan) is obviously not going to run out of funds anytime soon, but would be extremely hard to get into. The owner is best described as whimsical, and that's never a good thing when your career is tied up with that. Like I said, my Dad works there and has ridden on the planes several times for business trips - and insisted I stay where I am (CAL) rather than set me up with flight ops over there. I trust the man, but again that's just someone's opinion. Per my earlier posting, just head down there and catch a pilot in the parking lot and get the scoop from them. Things do change.

On a side note - I just heard about a 91/some 135 LR-60 gig opening up working for a real jackass (I worked there for 2 years) out of TEB next month. There won't be job postings for it, so if someone is interested I'll post where to send your resume in a few weeks, though I wouldn't wish the job on my worst enemy. A good job if you only care about money though. Cheers all!

globemaster3

I'm not a corporate pilot, so I'm trying to figure out what "treated like crap" means to you guys who mention it...
I think the AF treats pilots like crap, but it pays well.
That's my only reference.
How is corporate "crap treating" different than that?
g3

And I'm not only referring to the co. mentioned above, I'm referring to all the times corporate pilots talk about being treated like crap.
How is it different than the AF, or than 121??

SeamusTheHound

Here's what I used to do when I was flying corporate: get a hold of an NBAA (National Business Aircraft Association) member directory. If you can't realistically get one from NBAA, ask someone in corporate aviation (or even an FBO) if you can borrow their copy. The directory lists aircraft owned, address, and chief pilots' names. Use that to either make "hangar calls" or send letters. At least that is a way to know the names of the players!

globemaster3

hey seamus, that's useful advice.
thanks for your tip.
g3

CaptZeep

For those not familiar, rich people have a great deal of power, because they have money and can spend or not spend, hire or not hire, fire or not fire. Some let it go to their heads. They are used to getting what they want, when they want it, exactly how they want it, and don't feel they need to articulate this, it should just happen, and there is hell to pay if it doesn't.

This may include coming up to the cockpit at critical moments of flight and screaming at you. Or it may include telling the chief pilot you are a terrible pilot, a bad person and they don't want you flying them because you inadvertently offended them in some way.

I could go on, but that's another thread altogether- corporate pilot horror stories.